20 Franga Ari - Zog I Independence

Struck to mark the 25th anniversary of Albanian independence, this issue belongs to a series of gold commemoratives commissioned by Ahmet Zogu — by then styling himself Zog I, King of the Albanians — at a moment when his regime was almost entirely dependent on Italian financial backing. Mussolini's government had been propping up Albanian state finances since the mid-1920s, and the National Bank itself operated under significant Italian influence. The coins were struck at the Rome Mint.

Full Italian annexation followed just two years later, in April 1939.